This is a trailer of a forthcoming 1-hour film about the inspiring story of Miratus! Bad & the Birdieman is directed by Lili Fialho and Kátia Lund.

Donate to Miratus now!

The social badminton Miratus project was created in 1998 in order to fight the lack of opportunities and idleness of young people in the Chacrinha favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Miratus guides the youth to choose another way of life, rather than crime and drugs as a means to gain status and identity.

Sebastião, the founder of Miratus, is a true hero who built his life from humble beginnings and had the desire to also help the youth of his community. Over the past 17 years, he and his good friend Ramos built an enormous and impressive badminton facility day by day and brick by brick. He created his own system to teach the kids championship badminton using the steps of Samba dance to learn the footwork and get them to a fitness level where many of the youth are now competing and winning national and international tournaments! They have successfully trained hundreds of young people in a sport they never played through local innovative ideas and methods.

Rise Up & Care is the proud sidekick to Miratus, supporting them to do what they do best! A recent national tournament shows the fruit of their labor of love, and exactly why we believe in supporting local leaders in communities rather than bringing our own ideas across the world. The 28 participants from Miratus, with travel support from Rise Up & Care, won 12 gold medals, 9 silvers, and 9 bronze, dominating the national tournament in Caxias do Sul. Rise Up is overjoyed with this partnership with Miratus and all of its participants!

At Miratus Badminton Training Center in Rio de Janeiro, they demonstrated that kids can have fun while they train. Sebastião developed an innovative 5 level program of using samba dancing to learn footwork for badminton! This methodology created excited kids and champions. We salute Miratus.